As the last band of the day, we went to see our Danish Viking-brothers of Svartsot, who were very fittingly placed on the Wackinger Stage in the Viking/medieval village at Wacken.
Well, stylishly fitting at least, but it was soon clear that they were in need of a much larger scene to house all their fans! I’ve read that the stage-crew estimated about 5000 visitors, and this was far more than the small stage could comfortably house…

I would guess some drinking had occurred prior to the show, as Thor Bager (vocals) chose to start the gig off by smashing a beer-can with his forehead. Later, he would go on with announcing Drekar after it had been played, and poor Danni-boy (Danni Lyse Jelsgaard, drums) didn’t have much more luck, as he lost his drumstick during Tvende Ravne, resulting in a large part of the song being performed without drums while he was locating a new one…
Now, this may make the show sound rather chaotic, but in fact the band pulled it off really well, and the only thing chaotic was the crowd, which showed its appreciation for the band with excessive crowd-surfing and even a wall of death! Of course, all the Germans tried their best at singing along to the Danish lyrics, but as the sound was loud and messy enough, we were spared from the worst pronunciations, although this could have been a good factor for humour as well, I suppose.
On the subject of humour, it can’t go without mentioning Hans-Jørgen Martinus Hansen (whistles, flutes and more). For the song Kromandes Datter he brought forth a mandolin (or was it a banjo, my knowledge of these instruments isn’t big enough to tell the difference in a drunken state of mind) as the song called for it; although well-played, this was not what was fun though, the solo he performed of Oh Susanna afterwards however was!

In a popular choice of words, Svartsot killed the crowd at Wacken, all in a positive sort of way of course. I’m sure this is one Viking ship which will land on these shores again, hopefully the shores will be a bit larger at that time though, Odin knows it is needed.

Setlist:

Tvende Ravne
Skovens Kælling
Havfruens Kvad
Højen På Glødende Pæle
Jotunheimsfærden
Lokkevisen
Laster Og Tarv
Nidvisen
Spillemandens Dåse
Kromandens Datter
Skønne Møer
Drekar
Æthelred
Gravøllet